"RAGS" TO CEASE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 11

"RAGS" TO CEASE

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

THREE STUDENTS SUSPENDED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 2nd January.

Three students of King's College, London University, Lave been suspended for ragging. They were the ringleaders in the night raid on University College, Gowcr Street, on 11th December, and have been sent down for two terms. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Deans of the Faculty, and publicly announced at a specially-convened meeting of the students. Dr. \V. K. Halliday, the Principal of King's College, in an interview, said: ''It is not intended to publish the 'names of the three students who havo been sent down, and it is hoped by the authorities that this intention will be endorsed by the Press. There is no wish to push this disciplinary measure too far. Moreover, there is no reason why these young men should not come back at the cud of the suspension period and be a credit to themselves and to their college." When the announcement was made the students were told that "ragging" must cease, and that the college would have been closed down on 11th December if "the culprits" had not come forward and confessed to their Dean, Professor Ernest Wilson, of the En- : gineering Faculty. An unfortunate feature of the "rag" i which roused the authorities to' action was the daubing with paint of | the War Memorial in the grounds of University College, Gower Street. A DOMESTIC MATTER. In a further statement, Dr. Halliday said: "The measures which -I have thought proper to take in relation to the maintenance of discipline in the collego of which I have the honour to be • principal would seem to, be a domestic matter, the discussion, of which in the public Press would neither bo profitable nor appropriate. I "I should wish only to make it clear | that for the particular incident which necessitated them, the individuals who ; have been punished were solely re- j sponsible, and that their action was | planned and carried out entirely with-1 put the knowledge of,flie general body: of students in the college. ."The general problem raised by uu-der-graduatcs ragging in London is obviously a legitimate matter of public interest, insofar as.it interferes with public convenience. , Hence it will clearly be the duty of thoso in authority to endeavour to prevent the exuberance of youth from becoming a public nuisance. It may be well, however, to emphasise the complexity of their problem. ALLOWANCE FOR YOUTH. "It would be botli impracticable and unjust to legislate by any system of rigid penalties for disciplinary offences which may vary from a goodhumoured joke or a relatively hamless ebullition of youthful high spirits to a serious disorder, which causes inconvenience to the public and damage to property. "Allowance, too, must be made for the fact that' the thoughtlessness of youth may provoke unintentional consequences., and a harmless beginning may have a deplorable ending. "There is, however, one typo of socalled rag, a recent innovation, I believe, in London, to which a stop must clearly be put.' To break in at night upon the premises of others and deliberately to commit wanton damage 1o Fomeone"else's property hicks any say- ' ing grace of humour, and cannot bo excused as an example of high spirits. Even such courage as it displays is at best that of the burglar. This sensoless kind of performance cannot be tolerated either in tho public interest or in tho interest of the offenders themselves. "I feel it difficult to conclude without a final word in defence of the general behaviour of tho students, not of King's College only, but of the University of London as a whole. The students of the University of London outnumber thoso of Oxford and Cambridge put together.. They live in a metropolis where any explosion of high spirits attracts immediate attention under' conditions which mako such explosions peculiarly infelicitous."